I am a little late with my thanks this year as I was eating my weight in pie.1. My lovely bride and my wonderful children.2. My father who is a warrior, a teacher and still my role model.3. The current warriors in my life Kev, TK, thanks more than I can tell you.4. The men who have been warriors who are an influence on my life.5. All the mil-bloggers who I draw my insperation from. 6. The fact I did not die this year like some dumb a@# told me I was going to.7. Thanks for all the warriors who are allowing me to sleep to soundly at night.8. My entire family and friends we had quite a year huh. I love you

CAIR Welcomes ‘Preliminary Victory’ in Imams’ Suit Against AirlineCAIR welcomed a ruling today by a federal judge in Minnesota that rejected almost all of the arguments made by U.S. Airways and the Metropolitan Airports Commission in the case of six imams removed from a flight last year in Minneapolis, then arrested and denied further service.

Ahh yes the flying Imams. If the courts do not allow people protection under the law for doing the right thing the we are doomed.

BAGHDAD — A bomb exploded in a pet market in central Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, Iraqi police said, shattering the festive atmosphere as people strolled past the animal stalls.Hours later, a suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, killing three policemen and 10 civilians, police Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Wakaa said. The 1:30 p.m. explosion also left 10 cars charred.The attacks were among the deadliest in recent weeks, underscoring warnings by senior American commanders that extremists still pose a threat to Iraq's fragile security despite a downturn in violence since a U.S.-Iraqi security plan began in mid-February.The blast at the popular weekly al-Ghazl bazaar occurred just before 9 a.m.The explosives were hidden in a box that is commonly used to carry small animals, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.At least 13 people were killed and nearly 60, including four policemen, were wounded, according to figures provided by police and hospital officials. Several shops also were damaged./**/

The al-Ghazl market, where sellers peddle birds, dogs, cats, sheep, goats and exotic animals such as snakes and monkeys, has been targeted in the past. On Jan. 26, 15 people were killed when a bomb hidden in a box of pigeons exploded as shoppers gathered around it.Friday's blast was particularly significant because it dealt a blow to an increased feeling of confidence among Iraqis about the recent calm in the capital and surrounding areas.The market has regained popularity after the lifting of a four-hour Friday driving ban to protect prayer services from car bombings. The Iraqi government lifted the weekly ban in September, citing the improving security situation.A local store owner who would only give his name as Abu Zainab said he had only reopened his business two weeks ago."I was reluctant to open it after lifting the curfew because of security concerns," he said of his cleaning supply store that is about yards away from the blast site."Today, the view of many young men coming with pets, colorful fish in aquariums and dogs was very encouraging and cheerful," he said. "There were also teenagers selling sandwiches and tea in wheeled carts giving the impression that life is back to normal again, but about 9 o'clock, we heard the sound of an explosion."He described a scene of chaos, with birds flying into a sky filled with smoke and the bodies of young men who had been killed and wounded on the ground."We helped evacuate some of them, then the Iraqi police and army came and told us to leave because they feared another explosion could take place," he said.Amir Aziz, a 22-year-old pigeon vendor who was wounded by shrapnel, said he was in the middle of a transaction when the blast occurred."Today, the market was very crowded and we were happy about that," he said. "The Iraqi security officials have deceived us by their statements that the situation is 80 percent better. People believed them and began to go out thinking that it would be safe. I think that the situation will become worse again."In other violence, a parked car bomb targeted a police patrol in Shurqat, 155 miles northwest of Baghdad, killing one officer and wounding 15 others, along with one civilian, authorities said.The top U.S. commander in northern Iraq, Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, warned earlier this month that northern Iraq has become more violent than other regions as al-Qaida and other militants move there to avoid coalition operations elsewhere.American officials say attacks have dropped 55 percent nationwide since June. But American military commanders repeatedly have warned that Iraq is by no means stable, even though the violence is declining.A spokesman for the Iraqi military, Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, urged Iraqis to be patient, saying U.S. and Iraqi forces were gaining the upper hand but need time "to achieve positive results."He made his comments on Thursday, a day that saw a brazen attack against U.S.-backed Sunni fighters on the southern belt of Baghdad that provoked a fierce gunbattle and left 18 people dead, including three Iraqi soldiers, eight members of the so-called Awakening Council and seven suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants.U.S. authorities have attributed some of their success in reducing violence to the role of the groups of Sunnis who have worked with the Americans to drive al-Qaida from their neighborhoods.Mortars or rockets also slammed into the Green Zone on Thursday in the biggest attack against the U.S.-protected area in weeks. The U.S. military said nobody was killed but there were unspecified injuries.

I am suprised that the MSM is not trumpeting how we are really not winning. I actually found this on Fox. CNN has not reported this at all as they are talking about shopping which is all well and good but they forget we are at war.

Three suspected Al Qaeda militants beheaded an Iraqi couple in front of the couple's children, Reuters reported Friday.The suspected militants were reportedly related to the victims, and told a family uncle the male victim was an infidel because he wore Western-style trousers and did not pray, according to the Reuters report.The three suspects, including two sisters, reportedly carried out the execution at an all-boys school in Jalawlah in Diyala province.

This is disgusting as it is disturbing. That is why I like the fact we are murfing them at a rate of 1500 a month. I want this war to end I truly do but with this type of thinking how do you fight that.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Kucinich Protests Army Training School Associated Press November 19, 2007 COLUMBUS, Ga. - Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich said Nov. 18 the thinking thatwent into producing an Army school blamed for human rights abuses in Latin America was the samethat led the U.S. to war in Iraq and could cause it to raid Iran. Kucinich was speaking at the 18th annual protest of the school at Fort Benning that trainsLatin American soldiers, police and government officials. One of his first acts as president if elected would be to close the school, he said. "The type of thinking that produced this school is the same type of thinking that produced thewar in Iraq and is producing a war against Iran," Kucinich said. The Ohio congressman andformer Cleveland mayor was addressing a crowd estimated by local police to number roughly10,000. The Army's School of the Americas moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984 and was replaced in2001 by the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, under the DefenseDepartment. The protests outside the gate to the military installation are timed to commemorate six Jesuitpriests who were killed along with their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador on Nov.19, 1989. Some of those who killed them had attended the School of the Americas.

This guy is the moonbattiest of moonbatsIt was also this school that introduced human rights classes to Latin American military training you durn fool idgit. Maybe I am missing something here but I believe the oh enlightened on Hugo Chavez military has gotten a little more thuggish since U.S. influence has been taken away. By the way the Govt of El Salvador while it had its attrocities on both sides that were very sad is a success story in how to combat an insurgency.

Haven’t gone to war? You’re about toArmy IDs 37,000 soldiers who have not gone to war — and could spell relieffor the heavily deployedBy Gina Cavallaro - Staff writerPosted : Monday Nov 19, 2007 9:29:21 ESTSoldiers who haven’t been downrange yet had better hone their warriorskills because the Army wants to see more combat patches in the ranks.The Army has targeted 37,000 active-duty soldiers who have yet to serve acombat tour after more than six years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.Over that period, 59.4 percent of some 515,000 active-duty soldiers havedeployed to the Central Command area of operations at least once, accordingto data compiled by Human Resources Command. Many of them have served threeor four tours — some even more.Another 33.4 percent have not served a war tour but are assigned to unitswith pending deployments; are not in deployable status because they are atbasic training, school or other Army training; have medical or legal issuesthat keep them out of rotation; are serving as instructors, recruiters ordrill sergeants; or are in transit or otherwise on hold.But 7.2 percent, roughly 37,000 active-duty soldiers, have been identifiedby HRC as available for deployment and are facing transfer to operationalunits.Soldiers charged with combing through the rolls at HRC indicated that manytroops yet to deploy have been ready and willing to go, and many havevolunteered but haven’t had the opportunity. But the assignments officersalso acknowledged that some homesteading and deployment-ducking have takenplace.“Certainly in a population of 37,000 you’ll have soldiers who say, ‘I’llavoid this at any cost,’” said Col. Louis Henkel, deputy director of theEnlisted Personnel Management Directorate at HRC.“Does that mean the Army will give them cover? No,” Henkel said.But while some soldiers may not move toward the sound of the guns, ArmyVice Chief of Staff Gen. Dick Cody says he thinks they are in the minority.“This far into the war, I think that is more of a perception than areality,” Cody said, explaining that it has taken this long to get everysoldier an opportunity to go downrange while simultaneously creatingcohesive leadership in deploying units and in units that are being stoodup.“I think you could go to any post, camp or station and you could probablyfind someone who’s been in the Army four years and hasn’t deployed and thatwould be the exception, not the rule. Because when you look into it, thatmay be the best trainer for our medics down at [Brooke Army MedicalCenter],” Cody offered as an example. HRC officials were unable to providea breakdown by major command of soldiers being considered for first-timedeployments.Of the Armywide 7.2 percent being looked at for first deployments, thehighest number without combat tours, 27.1 percent, work in health services,a field in which the need for specialists on the home front makes rotationsless frequent.The next largest group at 7.1 percent is considerably smaller and comprisessoldiers who work in operations support in branches and career managementfields that include space operations, foreign area officers, nuclear andcounterproliferation, signal, telecommunication systems engineering,strategic plans and policy, simulation operations and information systemsmanagement.Soldiers who work in transportation, ordnance quartermaster, logistics,adjutant general, finance, human resources and acquisition make up 4.1percent of the undeployed.And the smallest group of undeployed soldiers, 3.5 percent, is in themaneuver, fires and effects category, which includes all combat-armsspecialties, special operations and public affairs.Many of these targeted soldiers work in places such as the Pentagon,Installation Management Command, HRC and other units in the MilitaryDistrict of Washington.The long haulArmy leaders long have described what they believe will be persistentglobal conflict in which the Army will continue to play a major role.The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have continued longer than projected,requiring active-duty troops to serve back-to-back deployments andreservists to serve as operational forces.The relentless operations tempo has been the source of wide dissatisfactioninside the ranks and among family members, creating a stiff and ongoingchallenge to recruiting and retaining troops.To help ease the deployment strain, the Army has accelerated by two years,to 2010, its goal of growing active-duty end strength to 547,000, from thecurrent 519,000. Also, the service is putting more money into addressingfamily support issues and looking for places where soldiers who are tiredfrom relentless rotations can sit the game out for a while.The Marine Corps embarked on a similar campaign close to a year ago with aCorps-wide message from the commandant ordering all hands into the fightand specifically targeting 66,000 leathernecks who had not deployed.the Army has not issued any such message. Rather, the hunt for freshwarriors has evolved as repeat deployments have become standard for much ofthe force and others have been reassigned to non-deploying billets beforeit was obvious the operations tempo was not going to slacken any time soon.“Everybody wants to go downrange and be part of this because they know theimportance of this war,” Cody said, adding, “At the same time, there’s ademand to make sure we have the right noncommissioned officer leaders andofficer leaders at our training bases that are training up these young menand women to go to these units.”The need to get combat vets into training bases forced HRC to look deeperinto the ranks for soldiers who could deploy and have not.To help rotate people into those jobs, Gen. William S. Wallace, commanderof Training and Doctrine Command, said he has asked the Army G-1, theTRADOC command sergeant major and HRC to see “where we can accept two-yearassignments in TRADOC and to codify those assignments to the point where wecan start moving people in and out without doing damage to ourorganizational structure in the process.”“I don’t want to create so much turbulence in TRADOC that it becomesinefficient in terms of moving people around, but there is great value, inmy judgment, in having combat veterans wearing the TRADOC patch becausethey bring credibility and they bring life, they bring energy into theorganization,” he said in a recent interview.Wallace said he doesn’t expect it to be a blanket policy across the commandbecause of the turbulence it could cause in training the force.But, where it makes sense, he said, he’d “like to move people in and out ofTRADOC in a more rapid fashion because I need the combat experience, and Ithink our combat veterans in some cases need a break.”Henkel said people who have been in TRADOC billets for six years will “bethe first in the queue.”Some targeted TRADOC positions, Cody noted, won’t be able to move intooperational units until replacements whose deployments have been pushed to15 months can return and get to the assignment.“Obviously when job one is to fill fully trained, best-led units intocombat, with 20 brigades in Iraq, and three brigades in Afghanistan plusanother 4,500 senior leaders on military training teams, just that demandalone has driven us to make sure that we’re balancing this force in termsof getting the right people in the right positions so we have trained andready forces in this fight,” Cody said.

The King of Spain surrender monkey though the Spainish maybe got this one right ' Shut Up' already. Now Hugo is wanting to use oil to 'guarentee soverignty' of OPEC nation. In my mind this is a form of economic terrorism. Pretty smart though you gotta admit.

Robert Spencer of Jihad watch fame has been a big proponent of a 'Manhatten Project' to get us from being dependent on fossel fuels. I agree whole heartedly with this. We are the richest and smartest country on the globe.

Come on scientists help us out. You all are the ones screaming about global warming time to step up and do something about it.